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1E3 Grp 4 - Desert

Page history last edited by 1E3 group 4 14 years, 8 months ago

Team members

 

Names / Roles

  • Leader-Fathiah
  • Writer-Noel
  • Researcher-Kiah Hui
  • Researcher-Travis

 

Overview

 

Brief description of the ecosystem:

A desert is a landscape or region that receives almost no precipitation. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres (10 in) per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evaporation & transpiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen climate classification system, deserts are classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk (temperate desert). In the Thornthwaite climate classification system, deserts would be classified as arid megathermal climates.

Where can it be found? Level of human activity? etc

 

Physical Factors

 

Light, temperature, water, air, pH, mineral salts and salinity

  • Light :
  • Temperature : There are different temperature ranges for different types of deserts. The average temperature of the hot desert ranges from 20 to 25° C, but its extreme maximum temperature ranges from 43.5 to 49° C.The average temperatures of the cold desert in winter ranges from -2 to 4° C, whilst in the summer it ranges from 21 to 26° C.
  • Water : 
  • Air : 
  • pH : 
  • Mineral Salts : Valuable minerals like gold and oil (petroleum) are often found in desert regions. In the Great Sandy Desert of Australia, miners hunt for gold nuggets. "Black gold," as oil is often called, is found beneath the desert regions of the Middle East, where it was formed over time from the sediment of prehistoric oceans. (Countries such as Saudi Arabia have become wealthy from the sale of their oil reserves.) Iron ore is mined in portions of the Sahara. And, boraxa white salt used in the manufacture of such products as glass and detergentwas once mined in Death Valley, California.
  • Salinity :  As part of the reclamation of desert land for agricultural use, irrigation is used to bring water to the parched land. When the water evaporates, the salts, which are left behind, form hard crusts and render the soil useless for agriculture. The runoff from this live there.irrigation water also increases the salinity of desert streams making them inhabitable for the speciesthat live there.

 

Classification of Living Organisms

Producers : These are plants that make food through photosynthesis. Limited by the availability of water, they produce fewer than 200 Kilocalories of food for the animals for each square meter each year.

Including:Trees, shrubs, cactus, wildflowers, grasses

Consumers : These animals are usually small and eat little. Many are insects, or reptiles, who are cold blooded and who use less energy to maintain their bodies than mammals and birds do. As food for predators, they provide about 20 Kilocalories per square meter per year for predators.

Including: Ants and other insects, rats and mice, some reptiles the largest of which are the tortoise and chuckwalla.

Decomposers : bacteria and fungi and insects like ants or beetles

 

Food Web 

Please use Microsoft PowerPoint to create and upload picture. 

 

Interrelationship in Ecosystem

Predator-prey relationship in the Desert :

 

Seeds> Desert Rodent >Hawk>Rattlesnake

 Seeds> Kangaroo Rat >Rattlesnake>King Snake>Wild Dog

Ghost Flower>Snail>Kangaroo Rat>Desert Tarantula>Hawk>Rattlesnake>Coyote

Desert Lily>Snail>Desert Rat>Hawk>

Bobcat

Parasitism : 

Parasites is a relationship between two organisms in which one species (parasite) benefits for growth and reproduction to the harm of the other species (host).

E.g.. Dodder, Schistosoma Haematobium (a flatworm).

Mutualism : 

It is a relationship between two organisms, which both benefit from it. But it may not be essential sometimes.

 

Example: The weaver ants have parasites feeding on them, they live on the sea hibiscus. When they die, the sea hibiscus would not have any protection and might die.

 

 

 

Useful Links

Include the links of websites you took information from. 

For example:

Wild World @ nationalgeographic.com ( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/terrestrial.html )

  

Comments (1)

Sherlyn Chew said

at 10:27 am on Aug 5, 2009

Hi all, your wiki is informative but it is unfortunately not very visually pleasing. Please standardise font size and try not to use so many colours. Also, add some pictures if possible. Are you sure there are weaver ants in the desert and sea hibiscus tree?

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